Snatch
Snatch, if the News of The World was to be believed, were originally going to be called Cho-Cha before the sexually ambiguous name of Snatch was settled on. Snatch was Patti Palladin and Judy Nylon, a pair of US expatriates:
“I met Judy on the phone. I was having a transatlantic conversation on the phone with a friend in London. I was in NY at the time, and Judy was in his studio. When I came to London in about ’74 we became good friends. We were trying our best to get something going, we were both creative chicks… We both had ideas of sorts.
For 2 foreign chicks living in London, what is there really to do? So that’s why Rock & Roll! It was the obvious thing to do out of boredom. We thought about forming a band together. We worked on basic lyrics and melodies and things. But it was hard trying to find people who understood where we were coming from. At that time all the punks were suddenly beginning to appear. Everyone was into saying, “I’m a punk. I’m cool, I’m aggressive, we’re going to change it” and all this shit. ” John Savage Interview. Search & Destroy #8
Top Nick Kent, Brain James & Judy Nylon
Right Judy Nylon & Chrissie Hynde – from Paul Gormann’s site.
They were involved in the early pre punk and punk scene, mixing with The Damned, Chrissie Hynde and of course The Heartbreakers and Johnny Thunders.
They certainly had a refreshingly blasé attitude to the rock’n’roll business not least because of their backgrounds. Judy had worked with Eno and John Cale and during the life of Snatch was playing in John Cale’s band on bass. She also knew the rudiments of recording and was arguably the artier more avant garde of the two.
Judy Nylon’s out of Florida and Boston, Pat Palladin’s from the heart of New York. Two highly evolved artistic sensibilities – Judy’s coolly penetrating lyrics, stylised/stylish onstage persona that’s a combination of regal, haughty and tough. Patty’s heartful-o-soul sassy Latin street raunch, and turbulent Tina Turner-esque belting performance – add up to unique sizzling chemistry. Vivienne Goldman, Sounds 20.8.77
Sporadic gigs and sporadic singles when they felt the need, spanning from 1976-80 and a collaboration on a Brian Eno single creating music crossing many boundaries. Stanley was their first single in 1976 from home produced demos in Patti’s Maida Vale living room.
No way were Judy and I gonna get a band together and play the pub circuit at that time, so documenting our ideas on tape was just another way of starting the band. NME 14.10.78
It wasn’t until 1978 that their next single came out which was more typically four to the floor punk.
The next step was a band in mid 1977 that was made up of Keeth Paul, Heartbreakers soundman, Pedro Ortiz who had featured in the Billy Karloff Band and Bruce Douglas. The band debuted at Rafters Manchester in July 77 with the Only Ones.
Bruce Douglas (Bass) Unsure how we met, recall 1st (or 2nd) time round Patti’s mews flat being played the Stanley demo; Brian Jones intro cracked me up. As to why a live band it was a logical progression and a way to promote the single/progress generally. Punk77 Interview March 2021
This band recorded All I Want and also featured Heartbreaker Jerry Nolan on the flip side. The single reached #54 in the charts. There was a tour with the Only Ones and the intention was more recordings but the band was short lived.
Bruce Douglas (Bass) Snatch was short lived; would guess it lasted a 3rd the life of the project-maybe a year give or take a month. The break up was unfortunate.. Doing what turned out to be the last session was with sometime Jonathan Richmond producer Matthew King Kaufman. He’d brought in the then Womble/session guitarist Chris Spedding at triple M.U.rate. I was given to believe. He offered me the normal 3 hour rate when the girls were in the other room and, as hearing others being paid/needing the dosh, I accepted. (Producers not infrequently manipulated main members of a band to part from the rest, certainly fewer to pay royalties if record successful). Girls went mad when they heard so….bye bye. Punk77 Interview March 2021
Keeth would go to the States and play with Nolan in The Idols for a short while then disappear. Bruce would play with The Reaction for a single, feature on Thunder’s So Alone album and play on Patti’s Siamese Twin single with Pedro. Pedro would feature playing congas on David Bowie’s Live Aid appearance and collaboration with Mick Jagger on the cover of Dancing In The Street.
At the end of 1978 Judy moved back to New York post the Eno RAF single, playing at Max’s Kansas City with a set of Snatch songs, solo songs and a cover of Buzzcocks Boredom with a scratch band and in an interview in 1978 saying she had recorded an album of montage songs and that she was happier in the studio than playing live. Some of these would appear on the later Pal Judy album.
Snatch was never a permanent set up. In fact it was really a collaboration between Patti, Judy and whoever else. The breadth of songs and quality are truly astounding and its criminal they don’t have more exposure. Indeed the girls have been remarkably low key about Snatch from inception.
Snatch has never been anything definite. When Judy and I meet, it’s usually a head-on collision. If the opportunity arises whereby we can do a Snatch album – whether it’s tomorrow or in two years time – then we’ll do it. ” But for the foreseeable future, the prospect looks an unlikely one. Adrian Thrills NME 14.1.78
Both are still recording and in the arts to this day. Some of their later stuff is detailed on their Punk77 pages. Both Judy and Patti were strong willed and committed individuals who never exploited their sexuality or the music industry they found themselves in, unlike most of their punk contemporaries of the time. It was all on their terms.
Below is the only video of the girls performing together
For such a loose band arrangement their releases showed a similar pattern. Three singles in as many years, a collaboration single and a compilation album. Three singles released some time after being recorded and each sounding different to the others. Snatch were indefinable; avant garde, punk or whatever you want to call them. They were truly unique and to this day undervalued.
IRT/Stanley (1977 Bomp then Lightning Records)
So in Patti’s Maida Vale flat in 1976 they recorded a number of demos that eventually became the single on Bomp records in February 1977 IRT/Stanley. (Stanley allegedly features Captain Sensible on guitar). Very New York punk sounding (cross between Loaded VU with Roadrunner) with dry guitars. Stanley was about a sex change man who turns into Pussy Galore, gets a nose job and turned on. Discuss!
Patti Palladin …it wasn’t a commercial exercise. It just documents a period in time. NME 14.10.78
Sniffin’ Glue #10 June 1977
All I Want / When I’m Bored (1978 Lightning Records. Initial 15,000 in special foil sleeve)
A chanting, nostalgic piece of new wave enthusiasm from Pat Palladin and Judy Nylon. Recorded nearly a year ago and now released ‘by popular demand’. Doesn’t sound a million miles from the Runaways mind you, but fun all the same. Record Mirror, March 1978
They recorded it over a year ago and the time differential unfortunately shows. New York street hustling oozes from their every pore… Melody Maker, March 1978
This single featured a more professional, if not loose, conglomerate of musicians featuring ex Heartbreakers drummer Jerry Nolan, bassist Bruce Douglas, guitarist Keeth Paul (ex sound man for the New York Dolls and Heartbreakers), and pianist Nick Plytas ex Roogalator backing the girls.
All I Want amazingly got to number #57 in the charts and was yet again recorded earlier – this time a year! Recorded in stolen studio time by musicians who had never met before. It’s an excellent tune with its catchy riff and spoilt brat vocals.
There was no point where Judy and I should have sold out to a company that would not let us get the record out the way we want, mix it the way we want, or use the art work we wanted for the sleeve which was also progressive. Finally, through LIGHTNING, we got the chance to do what we wanted… Search & Destroy #8 (1978)
So in short they wanted a metallic sleeve and were prepared to wait a year to find a company who could do it. Hmmm are we sure?
Bruce Douglas We recorded at a few studios, think it was w/engineer Ken at his Farnham, Surrey studios-name escapes me. Single sleeve most expensive ever at the time, 22p each, so tho allegedly nearly scraping into top 40 no dosh was made. Drummer Pedro Ortiz was in the band -happy to see him on congas w/David Bowie at Live Aid ! Punk77 Interview 2021
Patti Palladin It was educational… it was saying to whoever picks up a single for 70p, ‘look! You can get this for 70p. Why settle for less?’… it was an idea we weren’t prepared to forfeit. We didn’t want that single to go out as just another one-off punk single on Virgin or whatever. NME 14.10.78
What was the song about then?
Basically the record ALL I WANT deals with getting across that there are certain things that are important. ALL I WANT IS ALL YOU KNOW — as opposed to all I want is a fur coat and a comfortable relationship, or a new Rolls. If I know ALL YOU KNOW then everything else I want I could get – if I know what everyone else knows I could probably rule the world! Do you know what I mean – people are very information-hungry – data, details. People are very free to give away material things. People aren’t that free in giving away information like formulas for beating the stock market or tax dodges, you know… Search & Destroy #8 (1978)
There are two versions of the song. The single version and the one on the compilation album below. Go for that one as the mix is fantastic, completely different and innovative. It starts with what I assume was the original demo, before about a minute in it goes to the produced drums version. Towards the end there’s a nice bit of aural chaos with some fine loudly mixed drums bursts and distortion, before returning to the demo version.
Kings Lead Hat / RAF (EG Records Polydor 1978)
The B side of the ‘King’s Lead Hat’ 45, (released Jan 1978) involves sound elements from a Baader Meinhof ransom message made by public telephone at the time of the Lufthansa Flight 181 hijacking. Funky sounding and ahead of its time. Judy had some form with Eno – she had appeared in the video for China My China and was the Judy of Eno’s song Back in Judy’s Jungle.
I was really obliged by my own sense of honour not to ignore that. Right after the Schleyer thing you could dial 1166 in Cologne and get these pre-recorded police tapes. The German woman’s voice in it is a police women in Cologne. And she’s saying, “Do you recognize this man’s voice?” etc. “If you have any information… Judy Nylon Search & Destroy #8 (1978)
Judy Nylon It was through two artists that I was directed to the tape solicitations of the police in Germany, accessed by dialing 1166 on the phone in Cologne and discussions on the dubious ethics of wiretapping of lawyers of suspected terrorists gave rise to the idea of juxtaposing edited audio layers to recreate a 1979 time piece montage of disco, news, and transgression both by government and citizen revolutionaries (R.A.F.). Yeah, Eno, Bowie and Iggy were also in Germany but not at street level and not with artists. I explained the idea to Eno back in London because he could get studio time at Basing Street and have this record on the street in a day or two. We used instrumental tapes that Brian had of a Brand X studio jam and we produced it together with his favorite engineer in four hours.
Patti Palladin worked with me on the intimate, very present layer referring to a hijacked plane on the tarmac at Mogadishu and joined me in giving a good solid kick to the metal studio door, which was used for the gunshot at the end. The recordings from the tapes taken from the telephone became the top-layer source tapes on R.A.F. I was disappointed not to be included in the project utilizing the audio montage idea, which became My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts and felt disappointed again years later to find R.A.F. in Eno’s boxed-set without ever having been contacted. I still have the original police tape material and several other found sound pieces that I never got to use. More Dark Than Shark October 2001 Bart Platenga
Shopping For Clothes / Joey / Red Army (Fetish Records 1980)
Produced by John Cale, a real mixed bag of avant garde, funk and PIL style sonics but brilliant.
That was it until the compilation album
Since ’77, Snatch have built up a near legendary persona without really doing very much. Four excellent singles, without doubt, but it’s really since they split, some time ago, that they’ve developed the myth through their subsequent solo outings.
Patti Palladi … and Judy Nylon… were really the odd couple of punk. Two New Yorkers who looked bruised and hungover amidst a sea of teenage pop politicians, they never really managed to play live often but their vinyl outings were something to behold.
The primeval ‘Stanley’ still stands as a screeching opus of hormones and hard-ons while the low key ‘IRT’ extoles the virtue of travelling on the New York underground with a bunch of perverts. Snatch were always, somehow, more streetwise than their brash boyfriends and later learnt the real thrill of rock’n’roll by burning themselves out before they had time to equip themselves satisfactorily.
They’re like the audio equivalent of Hitchcock’s darkest rooms. The sleaze of underhand escapades builds into a warming ambience as their harmonic convulsions screech from the speakers. Subsequent outings with Eno on ‘RAF’ and on the Leiber and Stoller classic ‘Shopping For Clothes’ are turned into psychopathic fantasies where the simplest of lullabies are transformed with eerie glee.
The music is timeless too. If this were a new group they’d be cited as innovative. Maybe a bit patchy, but superbly subversive. I think that’s how they should be remembered. Dave Henderson Dec 17, 1983 Sounds
Patti Palladin was one half of the female duo Snatch with Judy Nylon and came from Brooklyn New York City. She came over to London in the mid seventies and who married photographer Peter ‘Kodick’ Gravelle was a fashion and advertising photographer whose clients included Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Marie Claire. Using his alias Peter Kodick he was one of the very first Punk photographers, shooting bands including The Damned, Billy Idol, Generation X, Elvis Costello, Skewdriver, Johnny Thunders, The Police, the Sex Pistols and of course Snatch
In between Snatch’s intermittent output, Patti featured on Chris Spedding’s Hurt (1977) and The Electric Chairs Things your Mother Never Told You. (1979)
After Snatch Patti did a lot of collaborative work with other artists, working with among others, fellow New Yorker Johnny Thunders featuring on his So Alone album and the wonderful whole duets album Copy Cats with him. She also wrote the lyrics and sang on 5 tracks on the The Flying Lizards 4th Wall album of 1981 before becoming a gothic chanteuse notable on the Batcave scene of the early eighties.
For Patti she continued her artist philosophy of doing what she wanted when and with whom.
Patti Palladin I have no intention of changing the things I’m doing because of some record company schedule… to me that is a load of shit!…Most of the people I admire are the ones who just have stuff coming out here and there… obscure stuff if you like. I’d like to be able to regulate everything alongside my creative ability at a certain point, regardless of the industry. “If my timing doesn’t sync up with theirs, perhaps you’ll never hear from me again.” NME 14.10.78
Middle Patti’s teeth and screw on Skrewdriver’s All Skrewed Up lp (credit Peter Kodick). Right – topless frolics all round with The Heartbreakers.
On working With Johnny…
Working with Johnny seems such a natural thing to do… besides, it’s the only chance I ever get to play the ‘cocky dumb bitch from Brooklyn’, I suppose it’s obvious really. I couldn’t think of playing that role for anyone else: Johnny genuinely does in many ways see women as dumb bitches. He’s playing that Stanley Kowalski role and he needs someone to play against, can’t think of anyone in London who could do it better, can you? Nina Antonia, June 1983
“A good idea played badly is a hundred pounds better than a bad idea played well.” -Judy Nylon
Judy Nylon (it was a nickname she kept) was from Boston USA and made it over to England in the mid seventies. She had already worked with John Cale, ex Velvet Underground, singing back up vocals on the song The Man Who Couldn’t Afford to Orgy and as part of his touring band on bass in 1977 while still in Snatch. She appeared in Eno’s video for the song China, My China from his 1974 Taking Tiger Mountain album and was the subject of the Eno song Back in Judy’s Jungle and she and Patti Palladin also contributed to Chis Spedding’s Hurt album in 1977.
Snatch was an on off affair and after their (Snatch’s) collaboration with Eno on RAF, about the Baader Meinhof terrorists, she returned to New York and formed the Judy Nylon Band and did a European Tour. In 1982 she made an album with On-U sound producer Adrian Sherwood called Pal Judy which featured some of the songs of The Judy Nylon Band from back in 1978 such as Trial By Fire.
Some quotes from Judy from Search & Destroy #8 1978
“I’m not interested in pink lipstick and mohair. I find the whole kind of thing that Blondie’s selling to be particularly offensive.”
“I’m very strongly anti-religion, and anti-family because I see that they’re like a COMPLETE BONDAGE and one of the biggest walls to climb … and the only way … is to get away … from whichever country you’re in…
What SNATCH is about is ACCESS TO INFORMATION.. .AND PASSING THAT INFORMATION ON. … The only reason I’m doing all this is to broaden my education, to keep learning….
“The tattoo is a window into the psyche of the person who’s being tattooed. Its a line you cross and you don’t go back – it’s one of the few things you choose.” Sounds 22.10.77
Here tattoo of Man Rays Violins D’Ingres was done by tattoo artist Ruth Martin.
She also featured in December 1976 in a British newspaper called the News Of The World that appeared every Sunday soon after the Bill Grundy incident . Its sometimes called News Of The Screws or Screws Of the World because it mainly features sex and gossip and lurid news stories to shock and titillate. As such the punk rock craze in 1976-77 was fair game and any whiff of sex gave the reporters an angle so Judy Nylon’s comments were a godsend. Written by a women as well, they weren’t just ready for a strong independent woman like Judy back then!
The Punk Junk Skunks
What the world of those four letter shockers is really all about.
By Wendy Henry – News Of The World – 5.12.1976
Punk Rock queen Judy Nylon sat back and sneered: “OK, so I’ve never had a job in my life. But I’ll never be poor because I’ve learned to live off my wits. I’m a city kid and I know how to get things I want without having to work.”
At 28 American born Judy is one of two girl singers in the new Punk Rock band Cho-Cha. She is still learning to play her guitar, which she brought with her winnings at cards.
Though she earns no money, she lives in a beautiful house in Fulham. It belongs to a friend as does the gin and tonic she is drinking. The cigarettes she was smoking were mine. the 73 four-letter words she used during our talk were all her own.
HUSKY
Judy realises the Punk philosophy can’t apply to everybody. “I know if everyone chucked in their jobs and did what they wanted to do, the world would grind to a halt.” she said. “As there’s no chance of that happening, I’m not worried. But sure as hell I’m not going to change. And if people don’t like me, I don’t give a ****.” Any money she has earned since arriving broke in Britain 4 years ago has been from writing porn for men’s magazines.
Her singing debut was with the Johnnie Cale song, The Man Who Couldn’t Afford To Orgy. In a husky voice she invites men to have sex with her and sighs to simulate the act. Sex means a lot to her – love means nothing.
Judy ran away from her comfortable Boston home when she was 16, and has spoken to her conventional but loving mother only twice in the past 12 years. After a skirmish with the Los Angeles police which she refuses to talk about, she sold the car her family had bought her and skipped to Paris.
She says she has lost count of her lovers. “I despise love and all it stands for,” she said. “I think it turns women into stupid cows. Love is the big four letter word that sells records, cars , pots and pans. That’s all. At least sex is a good honest act. In fact its like hunger – if I have an appetite I eat. If I feel randy, I have sex. If I met someone in the right place, and I felt like it, I would go to bed with them.
On stage she wears tight black leather trousers, high heeled boots and spurs. With her dyed, jet black hair, her tattooed back, and rubber lips she looks stunningly ugly.
BASICS
She said: “I don’t stop and think how many four-letter words I can get into a song. I just swear naturally and it all comes out on stage.”
On violence she said “Its part of my life and my only attitude to it is how to learn how to duck. “Punk rock strips everything down to basics. Aggression, sex and swearing is a gut thing, and Punk is all about such feelings.”
Not being able to play the guitar or even read music doesn’t worry her at all. “A good idea played badly is a hundred pounds better than a bad idea played well,” she says.
TalkPunk
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